Mobile communications system providing enhanced out of band (OOB) bluetooth pairing and related methods

ABSTRACT

A communications system may include a communications device including a first Bluetooth transceiver. The first Bluetooth transceiver may comprise a clock. The first Bluetooth transceiver may be capable of scanning a plurality of different operating frequencies for a pairing request based upon the clock. The communications device may further include an output device coupled with the Bluetooth transceiver and capable of outputting data associated with the clock via a communications path different than Bluetooth. The system may also include a mobile communications device including an input device capable of receiving the clock data from the output device via the communications path, and a second Bluetooth transceiver coupled with the input device and capable of generating the pairing request based upon the received clock data.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the field of communications, and moreparticularly, to mobile wireless communications systems and relatedmethods.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication systems continue to grow in popularity and havebecome an integral part of both personal and business communications.Various mobile devices now incorporate Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)features such as calendars, address books, task lists, calculators, memoand writing programs, media players, games, etc. These multi-functiondevices usually allow electronic mail (email) messages to be sent andreceived wirelessly, as well as access the Internet via a cellularnetwork and/or a wireless local area network (WLAN), for example.

Some mobile devices incorporate contactless card technology and/or nearfield communication (NFC) chips. NFC technology is commonly used forcontactless short-range communications based on radio frequencyidentification (RFID) standards, using magnetic field induction toenable communication between electronic devices, including mobilecommunications devices. This short-range high frequency wirelesscommunications technology exchanges data between devices over a shortdistance, such as only a few centimeters.

NFC technology may also be used in association with other short-rangewireless communications, such as a wireless Bluetooth connection. Forexample, an NFC connection may often used to establish an out of band(OOB) wireless Bluetooth connection in which a Bluetooth MAC address,which is used for establishing the Bluetooth connection, is communicatedvia NFC.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communications system inaccordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating method aspects associated with thesystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an example communications device that may beused with the system of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4-9 are schematic block diagrams illustrating pairing sequenceswhich may be performed by the devices of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating mobile communicationsdevice components that may be used in accordance with an exampleembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description is made with reference to example embodiments.However, many different embodiments may be used, and thus thedescription should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that thisdisclosure will be thorough and complete. Like numbers refer to likeelements throughout.

Generally speaking, a communications system is provided herein which mayinclude a communications device including a first Bluetooth transceiver.The first Bluetooth transceiver may comprise a clock. The firstBluetooth transceiver may be capable of scanning a plurality ofdifferent operating frequencies for a pairing request based upon theclock. The communications device may further include an output devicecoupled with the Bluetooth transceiver and capable of outputting dataassociated with the clock via a communications path different thanBluetooth. The system may also include a mobile communications devicecomprising an input device capable of receiving the clock data from theoutput device via the communications path, and a second Bluetoothtransceiver coupled with the input device and capable of generating thepairing request based upon the received clock data. As such, the systemmay advantageously allow for out of band (OOB) pairing, yet with reducedpairing times by adjusting a paging sequence in view of the clock of thetarget Bluetooth transceiver.

By way of example, the output device may comprise a first near fieldcommunication (NFC) transceiver, and the input device may comprise asecond NFC transceiver. In accordance with another example, the outputdevice may comprise a display configured to display a visual indicium orindicia (e.g., a Quick Response (QR) code, etc.) representing the clockdata, and the input device may comprise an optical reader for readingthe visual indicia. In yet another example embodiment, the output devicemay comprise a wireline transmitter, and the input device may comprise acorresponding wireline receiver (e.g., USB, etc.). Still another exampleembodiment is provided in which the output device comprises a wirelesstransmitter, and the input device may comprise a corresponding wirelessreceiver (e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN), personal areanetwork (PAN), ultra wideband (UWB), infrared, TransferJet, etc.).

The second Bluetooth transceiver may be capable of generating thepairing request based upon a paging sequence, and changing the pagingsequence based upon the received clock data. By way of example, theclock data may comprise an absolute clock value. In accordance withanother example, the clock data may comprise clock offset data.

A related mobile communications device, such as the one describedbriefly above, is also provided. Furthermore, a communications methodfor a first Bluetooth transceiver and a mobile communications deviceincluding a second Bluetooth transceiver may include receiving clockdata associated with the first Bluetooth transceiver at the mobilecommunications device via a communications path different thanBluetooth. The method may further include generating a pairing requestwith the second NFC transceiver for pairing with the first Bluetoothtransceiver based upon the received clock data.

A related non-transitory computer-readable medium may be for causing amobile communications device to perform steps including receiving clockdata associated with a first Bluetooth transceiver via a communicationspath different than Bluetooth, and generating a pairing request with asecond NFC transceiver of the mobile communications device for pairingwith the first Bluetooth transceiver based upon the received clock data.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a communications system 30 and associatedmethod aspects are first described. The system 30 illustrativelyincludes a communications device 31 including a first Bluetoothtransceiver 32, which comprises a first Bluetooth clock 33. Thecommunications device 31 further illustratively includes an outputdevice 34 coupled with the Bluetooth transceiver 32. The system 31 alsoillustratively includes a mobile communications device 35 (also referredto as a “mobile device” herein) including an input device 36 and asecond Bluetooth transceiver 37 coupled with the input device 36. Thesecond Bluetooth transceiver 37 includes a second Bluetooth clock 38.Example mobile devices 35 may include portable or personal media players(e.g., music or MP3 players, video players, etc.), portable gamingdevices, portable or mobile telephones, smartphones, portable computerssuch as tablet computers, digital cameras, etc. The communicationsdevice 31 may also be a portable communications device, or it may be a“stationary” device in the sense that it is not ordinarily carried by auser, such as a desktop computer, for example.

For two Bluetooth devices to communicate, they first establish acommunications link between them by a process called pairing. During thepairing process, the two devices establish a relationship by creating ashared secret known as a link key. If a link key is stored by bothdevices they are said to be paired or bonded. In accordance with theBluetooth Core Specification v2.1., for example, a Secure Simple Pairing(SSP) method may be used for Bluetooth device pairing. SSP has fourdifferent modes, namely a “just works” mode, a numeric comparison mode,a passkey entry mode, and an out of band (OOB) mode. The OOB mode usesan external or separate communication transport path (i.e., differentthan Bluetooth), such as Near Field Communication (NFC), to exchangesome information used in the pairing process. Pairing is completed bythe Bluetooth transceivers, but this requires information from the OOBtransfer, namely the Bluetooth MAC address of the target device. As usedherein, “Bluetooth” includes wireless communication in accordance withone or more of the various Bluetooth Core Specifications (v1.0/v1.0 B,v1.1, v1.2, v2.0, v2.1, v3.0, v4.0, etc.), including Bluetooth lowenergy (BLE) communication.

More particularly, NFC P2P (Peer-to-Peer) OOB Bluetooth pairing is basedon a standard proposed by the NFC Forum. See “Bluetooth Secure SimplePairing Using NFC”, Application Document, NFC Forum,NFCForum-AD-BTSSP_(—)1.0, Oct. 18, 2011; and “Connection Handover”,Technical Specification, NFC Forum, Connection Handover 1.2,NFCForum-TS-ConnectionHandover_(—)1_(—)2.doc, Jul. 7, 2010, both ofwhich are hereby incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.In the standard, the target Bluetooth MAC address is the only Bluetoothrelated information that is expected to be transmitted over NFC. By wayof background, NFC is a short-range wireless communications technologyin which NFC-enabled devices are “swiped,” “bumped” or otherwise movedin close proximity to communicate. In one non-limiting exampleimplementation, NFC may operate at 13.56 MHz and with an effective rangeof several centimeters (typically up to about 4 cm, or up to about 10cm, depending upon the given implementation), but other suitableversions of near field communication which may have different operatingfrequencies, effective ranges, etc., for example, may also be used.

With respect to OOB pairing, exchanging of only the target Bluetooth MACaddress leads to connection times that are sometimes greater thandesirable, and potentially in the range of several seconds. Morespecifically, Bluetooth pairing connection times may vary significantlydepending on which scan repetition modes are chosen by the target deviceand the connecting device, as well as the clock states of each device.In the example of FIG. 1, the communication device 31 is the target (orslave) device, and the mobile communications device 35 is the connecting(or master) device.

With respect to SSP, there are three possible inquiry and page scanmodes for the connecting and target devices providing a possibility ofnine connection scenarios. These scan modes includes an R0 mode(continuous scanning), an R1 mode (scans every 1.28 seconds), and an R2mode (scans every 2.56 seconds). By way of example, with just a targetMAC address to work with and an appropriate combination of scanrepetition modes, an average expected Bluetooth pairing time isapproximately 1.5 seconds with the target device in R1 mode and theconnecting device also in R1 mode, as will be described further below.If the target device is instead in R2 mode, then the expected connectiontime increases to approximately three seconds as a result of theabove-noted scan rate. R1 and R2 modes are more frequently used forinquiry and page scanning, as the R0 mode may undesirably block otherBluetooth communications.

However, when using the NFC P2P transfer functionality for GOB pairing,there may be an expectation from many end users that the pairingconnection will be established and the transfer commence nearlyinstantaneously due to the speed with which other NFC transactions maybe performed (e.g., reading a smart poster tag, scanning a securitybadge, etc.). Yet, to perform an OOB Bluetooth pairing, an NFCconnection is first established, the Bluetooth MAC address informationis exchanged, and then the Bluetooth connection is established. Giventhe above-described pairing scan times when only the target BluetoothMAC address is known, this results in an overall Bluetooth connectiontime which may take several seconds. In some cases the pairing processmay even time out and be discontinued, depending on the given time outsettings of the devices.

To help expedite Bluetooth OOB pairing, the communications device 31 andthe mobile communications device 35 may advantageously exchangeadditional information over the separate (non-Bluetooth) communicationspath regarding the first Bluetooth clock 33 to decrease the Bluetoothconnection time. By way of example, the clock data may comprise anabsolute clock value indicating a current clock count for the firstBluetooth clock 33, indicating where the clock is in its countingsequence. This information may advantageously be used by the secondBluetooth transceiver 37 to determine an offset with respect to thefirst Bluetooth clock 33, so that it may thereby adjust its paging scansequence to more readily pair with the first Bluetooth transceiver 32.In other embodiments, the clock offset data may be determined as part ofthe NFC exchange.

Given the importance of clock data accuracy to properly adjusting thepaging scan to achieve shorter pairing times, in some embodiments it maybe desirable to account for any delay or latency in the communicationspath from the output device 34 to the input device 36. Moreparticularly, one or both of the output device 34 and the input device36 may consider the delay between the time of reading the clock datafrom the first Bluetooth clock 33 to providing the clock data to thesecond Bluetooth transceiver 37. For example, one or both of the outputdevice 34 and the input device 36 may add in a delay or otherwiseprovide for the adjustment of the clock data to account for any latencyin providing this data over the communications path. In accordance withone example implementation, the output device 34 may account for thedelay between reading of the clock data from the first Bluetooth clock33 and outputting of the clock data for the input device 36. Moreover,the input device 36 may account for the delay from the transmission ofthe clock data from the output device 34 to the time of providing theclock data to the second Bluetooth transceiver 37. By way of example,these delays may be added on to the absolute clock value, and the delaymay be estimated or measured (or both).

Referring additionally to the flow diagram 49 of FIG. 2, the firstBluetooth transceiver 32 may be capable of scanning a plurality ofdifferent operating frequencies for a pairing request based upon thefirst Bluetooth clock 33. In an example embodiment, the first Bluetoothclock 33 and the second Bluetooth clock 38 may have a counting cycle ofapproximately forty seconds, during which the first Bluetoothtransceiver 32 and the second Bluetooth transceiver 37 will cycle oncethrough all of the thirty-two available Bluetooth communicationfrequencies (in R1 mode).

Beginning at Block 50, when using a Bluetooth OOB mode (Block 51), forexample, the output device 34 is capable of or configured to output theabove-noted data associated with the first Bluetooth clock 33 via acommunications path different than Bluetooth (i.e., it is not wirelesslycommunicated from the first Bluetooth transceiver 32 to the secondBluetooth transceiver 37 via Bluetooth communications), at Block 52.Moreover, the input device 36 may be capable of or configured to receivethe clock data from the output device 34 via the communications path, atBlock 53. By way of example, the output device 34 and the input device36 may each respectively comprise a NFC transceiver to advantageouslyallow for exchange of the clock data via an NFC communications link.Also by way of example, the clock data may be included in an extendedinquiry response (BIR) or other appropriate NFC data field, for example.

Referring additionally to FIG. 3, another communications path which maybe used is an optical communications path. In the illustrated example,the communications device 31 comprises a tablet computer including adisplay which operates as the output device 34. More particularly, avisual indicium or indicia may be displayed on the display 41, which mayin turn be read by an optical sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device(CCD)) which operates as the input device 36 of the mobile device 35. Inthe illustrated example, a Quick Response (QR) code is displayed on thedisplay, which is used to transfer not only the Bluetooth MAC address ofthe first Bluetooth transceiver 32, but also the above-noted clock data.In other embodiments, pixels on the display 34 may be modulated toprovide an optical data transmission of the clock data, for example.

In accordance with another example embodiment, the output device 34 maycomprise a wireline transmitter (e.g., USB, etc.), and the input device36 may comprise a corresponding wireline receiver. In still anotherexample embodiment, the output device 34 may comprise a wirelesstransmitter (e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN), personal areanetwork (PAN), ultra wideband (UWB), infrared, TransferJet, etc.), andthe input device 36 may comprise a corresponding wireless receiver.

By having the benefit of the received clock data, the second Bluetoothtransceiver 37 may advantageously change its Bluetooth paging sequencebased upon the received clock data, at Block 54, which illustrativelyconcludes the method of FIG. 2 (Block 55). However, pairing may beperformed even if the clock data is not received, at Block 56, but thismay result in longer average pairing times, as noted above, As such, thesystem 30 may advantageously allow for OOB pairing, yet with reducedpairing times, by adjusting the paging sequence in view of the firstBluetooth clock 31 of the first Bluetooth transceiver 32. Moreparticularly, if the target Bluetooth clock offset with respect to thefirst Bluetooth clock 33 is known, then it is possible to halve theexpected pairing time down to approximately 0.64 seconds (when the firstBluetooth transceiver 32 and the second Bluetooth transceiver 37 areboth in R1 mode, as will be described further below). More particularly,by knowing the first Bluetooth clock 33 offset, which effectively letsthe second Bluetooth transceiver 37 predict which frequency the firstBluetooth transceiver 32 will be listening on, the second Bluetoothtransceiver 37 may adjust the set of paging scan frequencies that itwill use to first attempt a pairing.

The foregoing will be further understood with reference to an exampleuse case utilizing NFC as the initial communications transport path forOOB pairing. Upon detection of an NFC connection at the target device(i.e., the communications device 31), a command is sent to the firstBluetooth transceiver 32 firmware to inquire what the current clockvalue is. This offset may be used by the second Bluetooth transceiver 37to calculate the current frequency that the first Bluetooth transceiver32 will be using to scan for incoming paging connections. The clockoffset is then communicated to the NFC firmware, and an EIR record(which may be reserved for manufacturer specific information, forexample) is created to encapsulate the current Bluetooth clock offsetdata. In accordance with another example, a NFC Data Exchange Format(NDEF) record may also be used to transfer the Bluetooth clockinformation.

Once the connecting device (i.e., the mobile device 35) receives the OOBpairing information, it checks to see if a record (EIR, NDEF, etc.) wasincluded for the Bluetooth clock information (Block 53, FIG. 2). If theclock information was received, a command is sent to the secondBluetooth transceiver 37 firmware to adjust its current paging sequenceoffset so that outgoing paging attempts are expected to match the targetfrequency on the first or second paging packet.

The differences in pairing times for GOB Bluetooth pairing with andwithout exchanging clock data will now be further described withreference to FIGS. 4-9. For the following examples, it is assumed thatthere is no RF interference, and that there are no SCO (synchronousconnection orientated) links active. In pairing sequences 60 and 61shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively, a slave device 62 (which wouldcorrespond to the communications device 31 or target device describedabove) provides its Bluetooth MAC address via an GOB communicationstransport path (e.g., NFC, optical, wireline, wireless, etc.) to amaster device 63 (which would correspond to the mobile device 35 orconnecting device described above). However, the above-described clockdata is only transmitted to the master device 63 in the pairing sequence61, and not in the pairing sequence 60.

Accordingly, in the pairing sequence 60, after receipt of the BluetoothMAC address via the OOB transport path, the master device 63 beginstransmitting on A train frequencies for 1.28 seconds, but there is onlya 50% chance of a frequency match with the inquiry scan of the slavedevice 62, even though there is a 100% chance that the slave device willbe listening during this time with an average wait time of 0.64 seconds.This is because without the benefit of the clock offset information, afrequency clock adjustment cannot be performed by the master device 63to attempt to synchronize the paging and inquiry scans, as occurs in thepairing sequence 61 of FIG. 5. Thus, a second transmission on B trainmay be required for the pairing sequence 60, leading to an averagepairing time of approximately 1.28 second, whereas this second pairingscan may be avoided in the pairing sequence 61 to advantageously reducethe average paging time to about 0.64 seconds.

Pairing sequences 64 and 65 are respectively similar to the pairingsequences 60 and 61 described above, except in these examples the masterdevice 63 is operating in the R2 scan mode, rather than R1. This resultsin an average paging time of approximately 2.24 seconds for the pairingsequence 64 (without clock data), versus an average paging time of 0.64seconds for the paging sequence 65 (with clock data). Similarly, thepairing sequences 66 and 67 are respectively similar to the pairingsequences 64 and 65, with the exception that the slave device 62 is alsousing the R2 scan mode (i.e., both the slave device 62 and the masterdevice 63 are using the R2 scanning mode in these examples). As aresult, there is an average paging time of approximately 2.56 secondsfor the pairing sequence 64 (without clock data), versus an averagepaging time of approximately 1.28 seconds for the paging sequence 63(with clock data).

Example components of a mobile communications device 1000 that may beused in accordance with the above-described embodiments are furtherdescribed below with reference to FIG. 10. The device 1000illustratively includes a housing 1200, a keyboard or keypad 1400 and anoutput device 1600. The output device shown is a display 1600, which maycomprise a full graphic LCD. Other types of output devices mayalternatively be utilized. A processing device 1800 is contained withinthe housing 1200 and is coupled between the keypad 1400 and the display1600. The processing device 1800 controls the operation of the display1600, as well as the overall operation of the mobile device 1000, inresponse to actuation of keys on the keypad 1400.

The housing 1200 may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizesand shapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keypad mayinclude a mode selection key, or other hardware or software forswitching between text entry and telephony entry.

In addition to the processing device 1800, other parts of the mobiledevice 1000 are shown schematically in FIG. 10. These include acommunications subsystem 1001; a short-range communications subsystem1020; the keypad 1400 and the display 1600, along with otherinput/output devices 1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120; as well as memorydevices 1160, 1180 and various other device subsystems 1201. The mobiledevice 1000 may comprise a two-way RF communications device having dataand, optionally, voice communications capabilities. In addition, themobile device 1000 may have the capability to communicate with othercomputer systems via the Internet.

Operating system software executed by the processing device 1800 isstored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160, but may bestored in other types of memory devices, such as a read only memory(ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software, specificdevice applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into avolatile store, such as the random access memory (RAM) 1180.Communications signals received by the mobile device may also be storedin the RAM 1180.

The processing device 1800, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, enables execution of software applications 1300A-1300N on thedevice 1000. A predetermined set of applications that control basicdevice operations, such as data and voice communications 1300A and1300B, may be installed on the device 1000 during manufacture. Inaddition, a personal information manager (PIM) application may beinstalled during manufacture. The PIM may be capable of organizing andmanaging data items, such as e-mail, calendar events, voice mails,appointments, and task items. The PIM application may also be capable ofsending and receiving data items via a wireless network 1401. The PIMdata items may be seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated viathe wireless network 1401 with corresponding data items stored orassociated with a host computer system.

Communication functions, including data and voice communications, areperformed through the communications subsystem 1001, and possiblythrough the short-range communications subsystem. The communicationssubsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500, a transmitter 1520, and one ormore antennas 1540 and 1560. In addition, the communications subsystem1001 also includes a processing module, such as a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators (LOs) 1601. The specificdesign and implementation of the communications subsystem 1001 isdependent upon the communications network in which the mobile device1000 is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device 1000 mayinclude a communications subsystem 1001 designed to operate with theMobitex™, Data TAC™ or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile datacommunications networks, and also designed to operate with any of avariety of voice communications networks, such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA,WCDMA, PCS, GSM, EDGE, etc. Other types of data and voice networks, bothseparate and integrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device1000. The mobile device 1000 may also be compliant with othercommunications standards such as 3GSM, 3GPP, UMTS, 4G, etc.

Network access requirements vary depending upon the type ofcommunication system. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks,mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique personalidentification number or PIN associated with each device. In GPRSnetworks, however, network access is associated with a subscriber oruser of a device. A GPRS device therefore typically involves use of asubscriber identity module, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in orderto operate on a GPRS network.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, the mobile device 1000 may send and receive communicationssignals over the communication network 1401. Signals received from thecommunications network 1401 by the antenna 1540 are routed to thereceiver 1500, which provides for signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provideanalog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of thereceived signal allows the DSP 1580 to perform more complexcommunications functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In asimilar manner, signals to be transmitted to the network 1401 areprocessed (e.g. modulated and encoded) by the DSP 1580 and are thenprovided to the transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion,frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission tothe communication network 1401 (or networks) via the antenna 1560.

In addition to processing communications signals, the DSP 1580 providesfor control of the receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example,gains applied to communications signals in the receiver 1500 andtransmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in the DSP 1580.

In a data communications mode, a received signal, such as a text messageor web page download, is processed by the communications subsystem 1001and is input to the processing device 1800. The received signal is thenfurther processed by the processing device 1800 for an output to thedisplay 1600, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O device 1060.A device may also be used to compose data items, such as e-mailmessages, using the keypad 1400 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device1060, such as a touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, or some othertype of input device. The composed data items may then be transmittedover the communications network 1401 via the communications subsystem1001.

In a voice communications mode, overall operation of the device issubstantially similar to the data communications mode, except thatreceived signals are output to a speaker 1100, and signals fortransmission are generated by a microphone 1120. Alternative voice oraudio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, mayalso be implemented on the device 1000. In addition, the display 1600may also be utilized in voice communications mode, for example todisplay the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call,or other voice call related information.

The short-range communications subsystem enables communication betweenthe mobile device 1000 and other proximate systems or devices, whichneed not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the short-rangecommunications subsystem may include an infrared device and associatedcircuits and components, a Bluetooth™ communications module to providefor communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices, or a nearfield communications (NFC) device (which may include an associatedsecure element) for communicating with another NFC device or NFC tag viaNFC communications.

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to the mind of oneskilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isunderstood that various modifications and embodiments are intended to beincluded within the scope of the appended claims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A communications system including: acommunications device including a first Bluetooth transceiver includinga clock, the first Bluetooth transceiver being capable of scanning aplurality of different operating frequencies for a pairing request in aplurality of different scan modes based upon the clock, and an outputdevice coupled with the first Bluetooth transceiver and capable ofoutputting data associated with the clock and a current scan mode ofsaid first Bluetooth transceiver via a communications path differentthan Bluetooth; and a mobile communications device including an inputdevice capable of receiving the clock data from the output device viathe communications path, and a second Bluetooth transceiver coupled withthe input device and capable of predicting the current scan mode of thefirst Bluetooth transceiver based upon the received clock data andgenerating the pairing request based upon a paging sequence, the pagingsequence corresponding with the received clock data and the predictedcurrent scan mode of said first Bluetooth transceiver.
 2. Thecommunications system of claim 1 wherein the output device comprises afirst near field communication (NFC) transceiver; and wherein the inputdevice comprises a second NFC transceiver.
 3. The communications systemof claim 1 wherein the output device comprises a display configured todisplay at least one visual indicium representing the clock data; andwherein the input device comprises an optical reader for reading the atleast one visual indicium.
 4. The communications system of claim 3wherein the at least one visual indicium comprises a Quick Response (QR)code.
 5. The communications system of claim 1 wherein the output devicecomprises a wireline transmitter; and wherein the input device comprisesa wireline receiver.
 6. The communications system of claim 1 wherein theoutput device comprises a wireless transmitter; and wherein the inputdevice comprises a wireless receiver.
 7. The communications system ofclaim 1 wherein the clock data comprises an absolute clock value.
 8. Thecommunications system of claim 1 wherein the clock data comprises clockoffset data.
 9. The communications system of claim 1 wherein the firstBluetooth transceiver is capable of scanning the plurality of differentoperating frequencies for the pairing request in an out of band (OOB)operating mode.
 10. A mobile communications device including: an inputdevice capable of receiving clock data associated with a first Bluetoothtransceiver operating in a current scan mode from among a plurality ofdifferent scan modes via a communications path different than Bluetooth;and a second Bluetooth transceiver coupled with the input device andcapable of predicting the current scan mode of the first Bluetoothtransceiver based upon the received clock data and generating a pairingrequest for pairing with the first Bluetooth transceiver based upon apaging sequence, the paging sequence corresponding with the receivedclock data and the predicted current scan mode of the first Bluetoothtransceiver.
 11. The mobile communications device of claim 10 whereinthe input device comprises a near field communication (NFC) transceiver.12. The mobile communications device of claim 10 wherein the clock datacomprises an absolute clock value.
 13. The mobile communications deviceof claim 10 wherein the clock data comprises clock offset data.
 14. Acommunications method for a first Bluetooth transceiver and a mobilecommunications device including a second Bluetooth transceiver, themethod including: receiving clock data associated with the firstBluetooth transceiver operating in a current scan mode from among aplurality of different scan modes at the mobile communications devicevia a communications path different than Bluetooth; and predicting thecurrent scan mode of the first Bluetooth transceiver based upon thereceived clock data and generating a pairing request with the second NFCtransceiver for pairing with the first Bluetooth transceiver based upona paging sequence, the paging sequence corresponding with the receivedclock data and the predicted current scan mode of the first Bluetoothtransceiver.
 15. The communications method of claim 14 wherein themobile communications device further comprises a near fieldcommunication (NFC) transceiver, and wherein the communications pathcomprises a NFC link.
 16. The communications method of claim 14 whereinthe clock data comprises an absolute clock value.
 17. The communicationsmethod of claim 14 wherein the clock data comprises clock offset data.18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for causing a mobilecommunications device to perform steps including: receiving clock dataassociated with a first Bluetooth transceiver operating in a currentscan mode from among a plurality of different scan modes via acommunications path different than Bluetooth; and predicting the currentscan mode of the first Bluetooth transceiver based upon the receivedclock data and generating a pairing request with a second NFCtransceiver of the mobile communications device for pairing with thefirst Bluetooth transceiver based upon a paging sequence, the pagingsequence corresponding with the received clock data and the current scanmode of the first Bluetooth transceiver.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the mobile communicationsdevice further comprises a near field communication (NFC) transceiver,and wherein the communications path comprises a NFC link.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the clockdata comprises an absolute clock value.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the clock data comprisesclock offset data.